224 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



the courage of the brown mouse returned. 

 As he swam once more homeward, firmly 

 resolved that he would taste that delectable 

 mystery on his way, a chill in his spine made 

 him remember the great pike, and look back. 



There was the great pike, a long dreadful 

 shadow, gliding up behind him. 



The brown mouse, as we have said, was 

 a wonderful swimmer. He swam now as 

 he had never swum before a brown streak 

 cleaving the dim-lit current ; and as he went, 

 tiny water-bubbles, formed by the air pressed 

 out from under his fur, flew up till they 

 broke against the ice. But, with all his 

 speed, the great pike swam faster, and was 

 slowly overtaking him. Just as he passed 

 that strange dangling lump of pork, he 

 realized that this was a race which he could 

 not win. The entrance to his burrow was 

 still too distant. But he remembered a tiny 

 air-chamber under the bank close by. It 

 had no exit. It was so small that he might 

 not find room there to haul himself clear out 

 of the water, beyond reach of his enemy's 

 jaws, but he had no choice, and in frantic 

 suffocating desperation he dashed for it. 



Even as he turned, however, the sense of 

 doom descended upon him. Was he not 

 already too late ? The long awful shape of 



